Belgium’s Cushen Puts French
and Dutch ‘To Sword'
The first round of the 2009 European Hurling Championship took place in Paris on Saturday, April the 18th. The Championship is played on a league basis with a team's best four tournament games to count.
Paris is a welcome addition to this year's calendar and adds an additional tournament for these committed hurlers. The Parisians have flirted with the Euro Hurling scene on occasion in previous years but with a more concentrated effort this year they hope to join Den Hague, Zurich, Belgium and current European Champions, Luxembourg on a more regular basis. On a more worrying note, Lux and Zurich failed to make the journey on this occasion as they struggled to get the necessary panel together. That left the hosts, Den Hague and Belgium to compete for the Paris title.
First into the ring were Belgium and Den Haag. The latter were missing some of their bigger names and the Belgians went straight for the bulls-eye.
Eoin Sheanon went on an early scoring blitz and by half-time the game was pretty much decided. Hague captain Sean Simpson did his best to drive his troops on and led by example crashing a 20 meter free to the roof of the Belgian net. However, it was to no avail as his side were well beaten. After a short rest they were back in action against Paris and this proved a much tighter affair. Again it was Simpson who drove his men on but it was Paris, with Darren Lovell solid in goal and Dave Conlon pulling the strings further out who led all the way. Mick
Cryan was the man of the moment as his two first half goals gave his side a winning cushion.
This result rendered the final group game between Paris and Belgium meaningless as both sides rested players and engaged in a bout of shadow boxing. With player of the tournament, Philip Cashin keeping the Paris attack at bay, Michael Hough and Dominic King were able to pick of the scores to ensure first blood went to their side. The final was a much more hotly contested affair as Paris came out intent on getting stuck in. However, the Belgians were the form team of the day and once the wind blew out of the Paris storm, Philip Roche punished his opponents with some quickfire scores. A 1-10 to 0-2 half-time lead was built on as the Belgians went on to claim the spoils.
Guest Inter County referee Joe Kelly presented the Paris trophy to the winner’s captain Kevin Keary at that evening’s dinner. More competitive tournaments are in store when the competition welcomes Lux and Zurich back into the fray. Den Hague should have their big guns back and Paris will no doubt be all the better for their first final appearance. The next round takes place in Luxembourg on May 16th.
